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Entering the Santander Department of Colombia: What Changes?
Colombia is the 2nd most bio-diverse country in Latin America. First is Brazil, which contains much of the rainforest and is enormous compared to Colombia.
When you travel here and go to different regions, you also see the diversity. From the people, the accent, the landscape, and most of all, the food. Most foreigners I meet complain about the food, but I love it.
Especially when each region has a spin on its version of Colombian food, I had the best arepa of my life two weeks ago on the street in Tunja: cheese with Bocadillo in the middle. I still think about that arepa.
Today, I am in the town where Bocadillo comes from, Velez, in the Santander region. I left the region of Boyacá.
Now I sit in a small mountain pueblo, where the weather has changed from cool to hot. The people dress like they are at the beach, and no one can understand me; they speak so much faster.
I have to adjust my ear and enunciate better, but sometimes, they see me as a foreigner and assume I am not speaking their language when I am.
When you spend a significant amount of time in one area, such as Boyacá, and then hop to the next area, Santander, how much I stick out here is palpable. In the colder climate, my fair skin is not that strange, as many people from Bogotá are lighter completed.
Yet once you reach a sun zone, it’s like I am Casper, the Friendly Ghost, and I just lit up the room. Also, when I got on the bus from Barbosa to Velez, the driver put me up front with him.
We chatted, but he spoke so fast; I felt terrible, but he was giving me a tour of the area; it was a public bus. I helped him collect money; then he told me I should move to Velez because now I know someone: him. He said the area is a safe and beautiful area, and it is.
